Happy Birthday to My Ex

Hello! Yes, you read that title right. I created a Birthday card for my ex-husband. He's the father of my two, most-wonderful boys (now in their 30s), and I am thankful for that. We have remained friends since our 1996 divorce, mostly because we didn't want a negative affect on our boys if we didn't.

For this card, I used a recently-purchased-on-sale set from CAS-UAL FRIDAYS Stamps called Bold Wishes. I love the set mostly because the sentiments ARE bold and they stand out. I didn't need much for this Clean and Simple card. I felt the Wish Big sentiment needed some layering, so I found a piece of light blue (Andy's favorite color) to layer it with, then I used it on the inside, as well. Finally, I added that border for the bottom of the front.

This is a wonderful set! I made this card in less than 30 minutes & was able to get it in the mail the same day. Of course, I didn't add any frills since it was for a guy. I encourage you to go to the CAS-UAL FRIDAYS site (http:/cas-ualfridaysstamps.com)and do some shopping. Am I enabling? Well, maybe just a little bit...

Thank you for stopping by again today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Christmas Penguins

Merry Belated Christmas everybody! I've been in Boston, visiting my brother, so there haven't been any posts for a while. Now it's almost New Year's. Happy New Year's!

These are two of my very last Christmas cards for 2017.  I know, I said that the last time, but in reality I had made these two before my last post and just forgot to take a picture until right before Christmas.

The top one was designed using several Lawn Fawn stamps & dies, which are now all mixed up in one plastic envelope. Therefore, I can't tell you what the titles are. So sorry about that! I die cut the penguins and other pieces a bit at a time, working around Snuggles moods. By the time I was almost done (nearly a month after I got started), she was bored with my diecutting & left me alone. YAY! I gave this one to my neighbor who is very disabled.

The second one was using a penguin from an old set at Gina K Designs. Love this fella! I added Stickles to his snowball & a ribbon from my stash. I gave this one to a dear friend of mine who will do anything for me.

Everything on both cards was colored with either Copics or Zig watercolor markers.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~ I have another post coming right up!

Christmas Gifts

Hello again! I'm here with my last Christmas card for 2017. WooHoo! I finally got to #50! Thought that day would never come.

This is a very CAS card & very easy to create. I pulled out a variety of supplies for this one, using Stephanie Barnard's Triplets set for the gifts, Gina K cardstock, and a sentiment from Lawn Fawn. I keep all my Christmas stamps & dies together, so all I had to do was dig through it all to find what I needed.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Christmas Wreath

Hi everybody! I'm back today with one of my last Christmas cards. WooHoo! The end is in site!

I found this Christmas Wreath stamp set at Inspired By Stamping a week ago and just HAD to have it. I love the wreath and the large JOY, although on here it looks a little wonky. The set also includes such sentiments as Peace on Earth, Be Joyful, Hope and O Holy Night. Love all of those! I colored the wreath with my Zig Watercolor Brush Markers. The inside says "to the world."

Thank you very much for your comments and visits, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Festive Fireside

Hello again! Surprised you, didn't I? I'm back already with more Christmas cards for 2017. These were created for a friend of mine who has bought a pack of cards from me for the past couple of years. I post a few on Facebook and she picks out her favorites. I enjoy creating cards for her, and it's nice to create something nice for someone who appreciates it.

I used an old Stampin Up set called Festive Fireside. The stamps and dies were bought in a bundle, so that makes it easy to create the card. There's no stamping directly on the card except for the Merry Christmas sentiment on the inside. What you see here is all dies.

Gotta love the cat! His tail was so long, though, I had to figure out how to make everything fit. I had to make a choice between the greenery on top of the mantle or the wreath, so I designed 2 different cards that were still very similar.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Christmas Penguin

Hello everybody! It's been a while since I posted. I've been traveling to Boston to see my brother for Thanksgiving. Then I was able to attend my niece's Senior Recital in music & drama in New York City at NYU. No worries -- I took some Christmas cards to work on while I was there! Can't get behind on this project!

First, I want to thank Kevin Mowery again for designing the new Christmas banner on this blog. He worked tirelessly to get it done, and I greatly appreciate that.

I also want to apologize for the poor quality of this picture. I can't seem to find the right place to take pictures of my cards without getting the snowy particles. I'll keep working on this, so please be patient until I get it right!

Now, onto the card! The circle image is from a former Stamp TV Kit called Christmas Wishes designed by Gina K. Her kits are great! They include stamps, cardstock, and now dies, too. Can't beat the quality of Gina's products.

The Christmas penguin and sentiment are from the former Winter Cheer Stamp TV kit. I enjoyed coloring the image and adding stickles to his hat. I used Zig Watercolor Brush Markers for coloring.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much and hope to see you again real soon ~

Foiled Christmas

Hello everybody! I'm back with a couple more Christmas cards. I'm really trying to get as many done now so I can get them mailed soon after Thanksgiving. One of my friends sends me my first card of the year around that time, and I'd like to be ready to reciprocate. He's my 8th grade math teacher, and we've been sending each other Christmas cards for over 40 years! That's got to be some kind of record.

These cards have foiling on them, and I feel the photographs don't do them justice. The second card has I have yet to find the perfect place in my apartment for photographs! Snuggles was asleep or in the bathroom while I did the foiling. Too hot for her to touch, and I was afraid the heat would get the best of her. I must grab these free moments when I have them!

The backgrounds and the sentiments are both foiled on these cards. All products are from Gina K Designs. The sentiments are popped up over some colorful ribbon. That was the best way to ease the eyes from all the shine. Both have space on the inside to write under the stamped Merry Christmas.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Purrfect Christmas

I'm back! This card is one I created at a recent Scrapbooking Crop, using some Purrfect Christmas stamps I purchased at Gina K Designs. This is a fun set for me since I have a 6-month old kitty cat who gets into everything. I don't dare put up a Christmas tree this year because it certainly wouldn't last very long with Snuggles around!

I stamped the tree and then added the mouse and cat. The gift boxes were stamped and fussy cut on another piece of cardstock (all inks and cardstock are by Gina K). I colored everything with my Kuretake Zig Clean Color watercolor markers. Before mailing this, I think I'll add some Stickles to the Christmas tree decorations just to bling it up a bit.

Several cards have been created using this stamp set, and I'm sure I've seen some similar cards like this one. I think I created a card with a mix of everything I've seen in the blog hops! Kudos to you who have given such inspiration!

Thank you for stopping by again today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Warmer With You

Hello again! I am back with another Christmas card, this time using Gina K's Warmer With You set, bought from Simon Says Stamps. I love this set because there are so many cute snowmen included.

For my card, I used two of the larger snowmen and one smaller female. This is because I have two grown sons in my family, and I wanted to exhibit them as snowmen in my card. They're not as big and round as these, but they are taller than me. Of course, I'm not as small as the female shown here, either! For the inside, I used a stamp from Lawn Fawn that was in my stash.

I think I'll go back and add some white details, such as dots or stripes, on the hats and scarves for the males, just to show some difference. After all, my boys are NOT twins, although they're only 19 months apart. (How in the world did I do that?)

Since I'm chatting here about my boys, I'm including a picture of the three of us, taken in June, 2017.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Patterned Ornaments

Hello everybody! I'm here with several Christmas cards I made using patterned paper. I have an old Stampin Up! die set I bought without the stamp set that goes with it. So I decided to pull out some of the patterned paper I've bought over the years and use it just with the dies.

I put the sentiment on the inside of the cards with the plain front. Otherwise, it's on the outside, as shown in the first picture.

Here, I got a little crazy with the patterns!

The bows were a little tricky to tie and glue on with the kitten sitting there, watching me. She really wanted that ribbon! I added snowflakes and gems to the centers of the ornaments. They were found in my stash.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Card & Tag

Hello again! I'm back with another holiday card. This time I included the tag that goes with it. Both were created using the Merry & Bright Stamp TV Kit by Gina K Designs. I am entering them into the Mix It Up Monday Challenge at Stamp TV.

I was able to heat emboss the image on both the card and tag, plus the sentiment on the card. Of course, I had to hold my breath the whole time because Snuggle was very close to me, watching every move. I was SURE she was going to jump into the embossing powder, but she didn't, thank goodness! The sentiment on the tag was stamped with Gina K's Blue Denim ink. I also layered the card with her Blue Denim cardstock. LOVE that color!

Without the cat, this would be an easy card to reproduce for mass mailing. With the cat, however, I'd have to give it a second thought.

Thank you for stopping by again! I appreciate your visits and comments very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Pine

Hi everybody! I hope you had a Happy Halloween and are now ready to start celebrating the future holidays. I changed my banner to reflect Thanksgiving. Kevin helped with all my banners, so I owe him a big THANK YOU for that.

Today's Christmas card showcases some stamps from Gina K Designs' latest Stamp TV Kit called Merry & Bright. I stamped the image and one word of the sentiment in Gina K inks and used her "Christmas" die for rest. I also created a tag to go with this but it was after I'd already photographed the card.

This was an easy card to create. I'd say it's very "Clean and Simple" but getting the word die to lay perfectly inside the shadow wasn't very easy. It's a very long, thin die cut and kind of difficult to use without stretching it out. I always use Sizzix adhesive sheets when cutting out words, and once you take that off it's always a challenge not to get it stuck everywhere. If it weren't for that, I'd create this card in bulk and send them out. I will still probably make more of them, just the same.

It would also look nice to layer the word die multiple times without the shadow so it would be thicker and stand out more. I'm just not up for that...no patience at this time of when I have so many cards to make!

For those of you asking, yes, Snuggles helped with this card, too. She supervised. Sometimes I can catch her in a quiet mood where she stretches out across the table where I'm working and I have just enough room to create my cards. If she's not in a quiet mood, I cut a strip of paper for her to play with and she stays occupied with that most of the time. She's always a partner in my creations, whichever mood she's in!

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

JOY

Hi everybody! It's that time of year for card makers to get busy with their cards to mail out for the holidays, and I'm no exception. In just another day or two, it will also be time to change my banner again so it will be appropriate for Thanksgiving. Wow! Fall is passing by quickly!

This card was created with an old stamp set from Stampin Up called Peaceful Wreath. I love it because it goes with another stamp set called Wondrous Wreath that's the same except the wreath doesn't have holly and berries on it.

The "joy" comes from a die cut I purchased from Reverse Confetti. It has several holiday words in the set and also goes with a stamp set to complete a sentiment. On the inside of this card, for instance, I used "to the world," stamped in red to go with the front.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

OCC Merry Making Day 3

Hi everybody! I'm slowly but surely coming back with more homework. Today's card is for Day 3, and I followed a video by Gina from Gina K Designs.

The idea for today's homework is to use stamps that aren't particularly made for the holidays. I used a few from a Gina K Design's Stamp TV Kit called The Simple Things, including the dot, the bud and the flower. All were heat embossed in gold, as well as the sentiment from Gina's Holly Jolly set. All were layered on black. I added a ribbon, also from Gina, for the final touch (with help from Snuggles).

Like I said, I created this while following Gina's video, so it's really a CASE (Copy and Share Everything) and not an original by me. Of course, I'd LOVE to take the credit but that's not fair.

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~ as soon as I get Day 4 done!

OCC Merry Making Day 2

Hi everybody! I'm back with homework from Day 2 of Online Card Classes Merry Making. I followed a video by Jennifer McGuire to create this card. It's fairly simple yet appealing to the eye. That's my kind of card!

Lines were drawn every 1/4th inch across the bottom using my scoreboard by Martha Stewart.The stamp set I used is called Poinsettias by Inspired By Stamping. I've had it forever and got it when I won a gift certificate for their products. It was hard to choose which products I wanted, and I remember adding a good bit to this order. I've used this stamp set every Christmas since, so I'm very glad I got it.

The ink is from Gina K Designs, the cardstock from Stampin Up! I also used my Wink of Stella pen to add some glitter on the poinsettia center and also for the veins in the leaves. That's not visible in this photograph, unfortunately.

The ribbon had to be tied a few times -- Snuggles got a hold of it and kept untying the bow faster than I could re-tie it. I finally took the original off and started over again. Frustration! (I know it sounds like Snuggles is always a frustration, but I do really, truly love her...especially when she's sleeping!)

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

OCC Merry Maker Day 1

Hello everybody! I'm here today with homework from Online Card Classes Merry Maker's first day. This will be a holiday class where we will make a variety of cards for the upcoming holiday season. YAY! They didn't offer this class last year, and I was so disappointed! This is where I get my ideas for the year's cards I send out.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks to blend the colors for the background. Then I heat embossed the snowflakes in white. (All the snowflakes are from various stamp kits I've collected over the years.) The large "JOY" was from a stamp & die kit from Simon Says Stamps. I heat embossed that in silver and then die cut it. The rest of the sentiment was also heat embossed in silver.

Kristina Werner showed us how to do the "bokah" technique, and I like it. I've always thought that would be hard, but it wasn't. All I had to do was draw white circles with a paintbrush and water and then dab the excess off so the ink would lift. This works particularly well with Distress Oxide Inks. You'd think that wasn't challenging, but it was. Snuggles kept drinking the water!!!

Thank you for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Stitched Leaves

Hello everybody! I'm back already with a card I'm entering in the Mix It Up Monday Challenge at Stamp TV. We're asked to use vellum on our creation, so I added that's where I put the sentiment.

I've had a few difficult days waiting on test results (thyroid), and my friends have been very supportive. This card will go to one of them who really reached out to me and kept my spirits up right until my last doctor's appointment (where I was told we're going to "watch it" for another 6 months -- UGH!) Anyway, I need to make several of these!

I created the background using the two-step stamps in the Stitched Leaves set by Gina K Designs and then added the piece of vellum on top with the sentiment. The stamps came in a mini kit, complete with adhesive, stamps, dies and cardstock. Can't beat it! I die cut the word out several times and layered it before adhering. The die came separately, btw. The phrase was heat embossed in VersaFine Black ink.

In case you were wondering, yes, Snuggles helped! She grabbed my trimmings and chased them around the table while I was trying to heat emboss. That was FUN...right!

Thank you for stopping by again today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~

Bats & Webs

Hey everybody! How's your day coming along? It's nearly the weekend, YAY!

I'm still trying to get Halloween cards done. Only a couple left, except my neighbor has now ordered several of the card with the shoes that you saw in my previous post. Time is ticking...

I love the sentiment on this card! Over the past several years, I have made friends with quite a few crafting folks through the Internet. We share our cards and send them to each other when someone is down, sick or celebrating an occasion. Amazing friendships!

This card is especially appropriate for friends like that. I couldn't resist purchasing the stamp set called Bats by Gerda Steiner Designs once I saw the sentiment. The cat on the inside is from Gina K Designs' Boo stamping set. The rectangle die with the dots cut out is from Stephanie Barnard's The Stamps of Life. I created the background myself using other stamps from the Gerda Steiner stamps.

Thank you for stopping by today! I appreciate your comments and visits very much, and I hope to see you again real soon ~ another post is right around the corner!